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Three of Southland’s high school Robotics teams went to North Dakota last weekend for some educational and competitive opportunities.   

The trip began Thursday with an industrial tour at Northrup Grumman, a leading defense and aeronautics technology company that relies heavily on robotics. On Friday they participated in college tours at the University of North Dakota where they visited the  Aviation, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering departments and helped set up for Saturday’s tournament.  

On Saturday, the three teams competed among a field of 55 teams from North Dakota and Minnesota.   When the Skills component of the competition was complete, the Southbots had finished in first place, with the Rebelbots and Roverbots sitting in the second and fourth places. As the six qualification rounds wrapped up, the Roverbots were ranked first overall, with the Rebelbots close behind in third and the Southbots in fourth. 

The top-ranked Roverbots selected the Southbots to be their alliance partner for the Finals rounds.  The Rebelbots then were teamed up with a team from Bemidji in the second ranked alliance. Both alliances won their quarterfinal and semifinal matches, and squared off against each other in the finals, which was won by the Roverbot-Southbot alliance.

In addition to their strong competition finishes as tournament champions and finalists, additional awards were won by all teams.  Rebelbots took home the tournament’s top award, the Excellence award.  The Southbots won the top Skills award and the Design Award.  The Roverbots were awarded the Judges award.